Self Paced Budget Course Lesson 7

Time to make some hard decisions

OK, you have established why you want to get your finances under control, understood where you currently stand and found a few ways to help jump start the plan.

This step is about long term assistance. How will you reach your goals?

Here are just a few ideas:

Find friends that have the same values and ideas that you have.

“You are the books you read and the people you associate with” If you are tempted to keep up with the Jones’s it is much harder to resist if you are hanging out with them regularly. If you have friends that are heading in the same direction you want to go, it will make the voyage much easier.

Create a commitment device

A commitment device is something that forces you to stick with the decision you make. Right now it is easy to be excited about getting out of debt or getting your finances under control. But when the going gets tough how do you make sure you stick with it? I like to automate my finances for that reason. If my bills are paid automatically without the need of manual effort on my part I am much more likely not to skip a payment to splurge.

Use a cash budget

Cash forces you to feel the pain of spending. When it is gone it is gone.

Budget tightly

If you make a plan for all of your money then it will go where you want it to go and not of on it’s own like a sailor on shore leave.

There are a ton of other ideas that will help you reach your goals but finding a few big ones will help you along the way.

Awesome! You finished lesson 7. You are almost done!!!

How are you going to reach your goals? What are you going to change? Tell me in the comments!